The Complete Guide To Travel Insurance

While it may not be the most exciting element of your holiday, travel insurance is an essential for any trip.

A comprehensive travel insurance policy should cover you for everything from cancellation and lost luggage to medical costs – and more.

In our handy guide, we detail what to look for in a travel insurance policy, when you should buy it, how to find the best policy for you, and we answer some common travel insurance questions.

Why do you need travel insurance?

No one likes to imagine anything going wrong before or during a holiday, but, unfortunately, unexpected events do happen.

Travel insurance will provide you with peace of mind and acts as a financial safety net should something come along to ruin your trip.

It can protect you against holiday disruption, such as cancellation due to an event outside your control, lost or stolen possessions, or a medical problem while you’re on holiday.

According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the average medical claim on travel insurance in 2018 was £1,368, with one couple in America requiring almost £600,000 in support from their travel insurer.

In the same year, £145 million was paid out to Brits for 167,000 cancellation claims, while 79,000 Brits claimed for lost baggage or money – at an average of £214 per claim.

What should a standard travel insurance policy cover?

While every travel insurance policy is different, most standard policies should cover you for at least the following:

• Medical expenses while you’re away if you fall ill or are injured, plus repatriation costs – but make sure you declare any pre-existing medical conditions to your insurer, or your policy may be invalid

• Lost or stolen possessions, such as luggage, money or documents

• Cancellation costs should something outside of your control force you to cancel a trip

• Personal liability if you accidentally injure someone or damage their property.

You may also be covered for missed departure should circumstances beyond your control cause you to miss your flight or other transport, travel delays and abandonment.

How is the price of travel insurance calculated?

The price of a travel insurance policy will be determined by how likely your insurer thinks you are to make a claim.

Insurers look at several factors to work out prices, including your age, the destination you are travelling to, how long you are travelling for, which activities you are taking part in, what level of cover you’d like and any pre-existing medical conditions.

It’s important to be honest with your insurer, even if this makes a policy more expensive. Otherwise, any claims could be rejected.

What types of travel insurance policy are available?

There are lots of different types of travel insurance policy available, so think carefully about which matches your needs. Policy types include the following:

Single-trip policies

As the name implies, single trip policies will cover you for one trip only and will often only cover you for a limited number of days – so check this limit before you commit.

Annual multi-trip policies

Annual travel insurance policies will cover multiple trips in a year. If you know that you’ll be taking more than one holiday over a year or are a regular traveller, it’s worth looking into the price of an annual policy as buying one may save you money when compared to buying multiple single-trip policies.

As with single-trip policies, there’s likely to be a limit on the number of days you can go away for on individual trips, depending on the type of policy you take out.

Backpacker travel insurance

If you’re going away on an extended trip, as a student, a backpacker or on a gap year, standard travel insurance is unlikely to cover you.

So, you’ll need to look into specialist backpacker travel insurance that is designed for travel over longer lengths of time and, sometimes, includes cover for more adventurous activities than a standard policy – although always check what your individual policy provides protection for.

With any of these policy types, you’ll have to decide whether the policy is for an individual, a couple, a family or a group.

Family travel insurance

Opting for a family travel insurance policy can work out better value than buying individual policies for every member of your family group. It, generally, covers two adults and their children, although there are also policies available for single-parent families and some will cover grandchildren too.

With annual family travel insurance policies, adults are usually covered when travelling alone and occasionally children will be too – but check with your insurance provider as you will probably need to buy separate policies for certain getaways such as school trips.

Some family policies also offer extra cover when compared to individual policies.

European/ worldwide travel insurance

When taking a policy out, you’ll be asked where you’re travelling to and whether you’d like a European or worldwide policy. Make sure you check your individual provider’s definition of each.

As an example, if you are travelling to Turkey, some travel insurance companies will class this as Europe for policies, while others will only cover travel to the country under a worldwide policy.

With worldwide policies, many insurers also don’t include travel to the USA, Canada or the Caribbean as standard – so double check the terms of your policy.

If you’re taking out an annual policy, think about where you may travel to over the year. Taking out a European policy may be cheaper in the short term – but if you book to go further afield later in the year, you won’t be covered.

Specialist travel insurance policies

Certain groups of travellers, those taking part in particular activities, or people with health conditions may need to take out a specialist travel insurance policy. Options available include:

Winter sports travel insurance

If you’re planning on taking part in snow-based fun on a holiday – skiing, snowboarding, or even husky-sledding – you’ll need a specialist winter sports insurance policy so you’re protected should you have an accident, lose equipment or there’s a piste-closure while you’re away.

Standard travel insurance usually won’t cover claims for winter sports related issues as you stand more of a chance of injuring yourself while skiing than lying on a sun-lounger, plus you’ll probably be travelling with more expensive gear.

When you take this type of cover out, check that all of the activities you plan to take part in are included on your policy as some, such as tobogganing, may be excluded.

Adventure sports travel insurance

Many standard travel insurance policies will exclude cover for certain extreme activities such as quad-biking, scuba diving, bungee jumping and rock climbing.

So, if you have an adrenaline-packed trip planned – or even an adrenaline-filled afternoon – check that the activities you wish to take part in are covered should anything go wrong.

If you have an existing policy, ask your insurer if you can bolt cover on for them before you travel. If not, take a look for a specialist adventure sports travel insurance policy.

Travel insurance for the over-65s

As you get older, the price of your travel insurance tends to increase. This is because insurers deem older travellers – often defined as above 64, but sometimes lower – as being more likely to make a medical-related claim. Some insurers may even refuse to cover travellers over a certain age.

So, there are specialist policies available for travellers aged over 65.

Policies can be expensive when you’re in this age bracket, though, so it’s even more important to shop around for the best value policy that meets your travelling needs – as simply opting for the cheapest policy may prove to be a false economy should something go wrong.

Pre-existing medical conditions travel insurance

When you take out a travel insurance policy, it’s vital that you declare any pre-existing medical conditions. Doing so will often make policies more expensive, and some insurers may also refuse to cover you, so it can be tempting to hide a couple of details.

But, should you need to make a claim, your insurer has the right to request access to your medical records and, if you’ve concealed something, it can refuse to pay out.

There are specialist policies designed for travellers with pre-existing conditions, so compare these if you’re finding it difficult to get insured.

If you’re struggling to find cover, take a look at the Money Advice Service’s directory.

Cruise cover

If you’re going on a cruise holiday, you’ll need specialist cruise travel insurance. As well as covering you for items that are usually included on a standard travel insurance policy, it should provide cover for things that are unique to cruising.

These could include cabin confinement if you get ill while you’re at sea, missed port stops due to bad weather and extra baggage cover as luggage limits will be different to those on flights.

As with any insurance, make sure your insurance covers you for the elements that are important to you.

Business travel insurance

If you go abroad for work purposes rather than leisure, you may need to take out a specialist policy. This will provide extra cover for business equipment and other items such as business money.

What should I look out for when comparing travel insurance?

While deciding which the best travel insurance policy is for you, it can be tempting to just plump for the cheapest option. However, this could leave you dissatisfied if you need to make a claim.

Instead, when comparing polices, pay attention to the amounts offered for key items such as the following:

• The excess – this is the amount that you’ll have to pay towards a claim. Think realistically about how much you could afford to pay before agreeing to a high excess. If your policy is for a couple or a family, you should also check whether the excess is per person or per policy. Also check whether different items on your policy have different excess amounts.

• Lost possessions – check how much your policy will allow you to claim for different items such as lost luggage and cash as you don’t want to find out that these amounts are much less than you need when you make a claim. Check whether there’s a single item limit too, which is the amount you can claim for an individual item, no matter how much the overall limit is.

• Cancellation – make sure this is the same amount or more than you’ve paid for your trip.

• Medical expenses – don’t skimp on this as medical expenses can quickly add up. The Money Advice Service recommends looking for policies with at least £1 million cover for travel in Europe and £2 million or more for travel to the USA. Make sure that repatriation is also included in your policy.

• Legal fees/personal liability cover – this will cover you should you accidentally damage someone’s property or injure them. The Money Advice Service recommends looking for policies with a minimum of £2 million or more for this.

These amounts will vary between different companies and some insurance providers offer policies in tiers (often named bronze, silver and gold) with different levels of coverage depending on which you choose.

What else should I look for?

As well as the essentials that all comprehensive travel insurance policies should cover, some extras that you may wish to add on or look for include:

• End supplier failure or scheduled airline failure – this will protect you financially should your travel company or airline collapse. If you’re not travelling as part of an ATOL protected package holiday, you should consider this.

• Delay cover – financial compensation for delays usually kicks in after you’ve been delayed for a certain amount of time, often 12 hours.

• Missed departure cover – if you miss your flight, train, ferry, or other mode of transport, through no fault of your own, this will compensate you – make sure your transport is included, though. You may have to prove that you left enough time for your journey or that you broke down on your way to the airport for your claim to be successful, though, so keep evidence.

Common travel insurance exclusions

It’s important to pay attention to what isn’t covered on your travel insurance policy as well as what is, so there are no surprises if you need to make a claim.

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic disrupted travel massively and caused some insurers to stop selling policies.

Now that many are back on sale, policies may exclude certain claims relating to coronavirus as it’s a known risk, while some may even exclude claims relating to any pandemic. Make sure you’re aware where you stand with yours.

Similarly, natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, flooding and earthquakes can cause travel disruption and many policies will exclude claims as a result of these.

Terrorism is another area that many standard policies will exclude as a reason to pay out.

If any of these exclusions worry you, you may be able to buy specialist cover at an extra cost to give you peace of mind.

You could also inadvertently void your travel insurance through your actions so look at your policy’s small print for exclusions. Some items to look out for include:

• Travelling against the advice of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) – if you ignore government travel advice, most standard travel insurance policies will be invalid.

• Accidents relating to alcohol or non-prescription drugs – most insurers have exclusions regarding drug or alcohol-related incidents.

• Not taking reasonable care of your possessions – insurers will expect you to look after your possessions. For example, your policy may stipulate that cash left in your room while you’re out must be kept in the room’s safe or it won’t pay out.

• Not following your insurer’s claims procedure – there will be certain steps your insurer will expect you to take in order for any claim to be successful. These could include reporting a theft within a certain timeframe and getting a copy of a police report, keeping receipts or making a claim in the timeframe detailed in your documents.

How do I find the right policy – at the best price?

Once you know the type of travel insurance you’d like, you should compare policies from a number of companies to ensure you find the best level of cover and price for you.

To make this easier, you could use a travel insurance price-comparison service, which will allow you to look at policies from a number of companies side-by-side.

When is the best time to buy travel insurance?

Many holidaymakers leave buying their travel insurance until the last minute, but the best time to buy a policy is as soon as you’ve booked a trip.

This is because comprehensive policies don’t just cover you for events that go wrong while you’re away, but they can protect you financially should anything unforeseen cause you to cancel your trip before you go away.

This could include events such as redundancy, the death of a close family member or injury.

Do I need travel insurance for a holiday in the UK?

If you’re nipping away for a holiday within the UK, you may assume that you don’t need travel insurance. But things could still go wrong and, with a UK travel insurance policy, you could protect yourself financially against cancellation, delays, loss of possessions and hospital transfer should you wish to move closer to home.

As with any policy, pay attention to any exclusions. For example, policies may only cover a minimum number of nights away, meaning that weekend jaunts won’t be covered. It may also stipulate that your break has to be a certain distance from your home.

I’m pregnant – do I need specialist travel insurance?

With straightforward pregnancies, you should be covered under a standard travel insurance policy as pregnancy is not usually classified as a medical condition.

However, if you have any conditions as a result of your pregnancy, such as high blood pressure or gestational diabetes, declare them to your insurer as a pre-existing condition.

It’s worth checking policies for any exclusions around pregnancy too, so you’re comfortable with the level of cover you have. For example, policies may only cover you up to a certain stage in your pregnancy and may not cover medical expenses for routine treatments relating to pregnancy, such as childbirth, only emergencies.

Find out more at our guide to travel insurance and pregnancy.

I’m travelling to Europe and have an EHIC/GHIC – do I still need travel insurance?

European Health Insurance Cards (EHIC) which, since Brexit, are being phased out for Global Health Insurance Cards (GHIC). Both provide travellers to the EU the same access to the state-run medical care as the locals would receive, although there are some differences which you can find out more about with our guide to GHICs.

However, neither card should be considered a substitute for travel insurance. Not all medical expenses will be covered by the cards and other events including cancellation, lost possessions and legal fees will only be covered by a comprehensive travel insurance policy.

Can I cancel my travel insurance policy?

As long as you’ve not travelled, you can usually cancel a travel insurance policy within a 14-day cooling-off period if you are not happy with it.

Check for any exclusions around this before you commit, though, such as a minimum number of days before your trip. You may also need to pay an admin fee to cancel a policy.